Thursday, April 14, 2016

Iraq snapshot

MORE THAN 90 PERCENT of young people in Iraq consider the United States to be an enemy of their country, according to a new poll.After years spent justifying the war as a “liberation” of the Iraqi
people, the survey casts further doubt on the success of that endeavor.

Today the US Defense Dept announced:

Strikes in IraqAttack, fighter and ground attack aircraft conducted seven
strikes in Iraq, coordinated with and in support of Iraq’s government:-- Near Huwayjah, a strike struck an ISIL tactical unit and destroyed an ISIL assembly area.-- Near Hit, two strikes struck two separate ISIL tactical
units and destroyed six ISIL machine gun positions and four ISIL
fighting positions.-- Near Mosul, two strikes struck two separate ISIL tactical
units and destroyed four ISIL assembly areas and an ISIL fighting
position.-- Near Qayyarah, a strike destroyed an ISIL vehicle bomb.-- Near Tal Afar, a strike produced inconclusive results.

Task force officials define a strike as one or more kinetic
events that occur in roughly the same geographic location to produce a
single, sometimes cumulative, effect. Therefore, officials explained, a
single aircraft delivering a single weapon against a lone ISIL vehicle
is one strike, but so is multiple aircraft delivering dozens of weapons
against buildings, vehicles and weapon systems in a compound, for
example, having the cumulative effect of making those targets harder or
impossible for ISIL to use. Accordingly, officials said, they do not
report the number or type of aircraft employed in a strike, the number
of munitions dropped in each strike, or the number of individual
munition impact points against a target.

These bombings have been carried out daily since August of 2014.

Again, Murtaza Hussain reports:MORE THAN 90 PERCENT of young people in Iraq consider the United States to be an enemy of their country, according to a new poll.After years spent justifying the war as a “liberation” of the Iraqi
people, the survey casts further doubt on the success of that endeavor.

And how has this addressed the problem of the Islamic State?

It has not.

The editorial board of THE PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE reminds:The Iraqi government of Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi has its own problems, considered largely to be a result of the actions of its Shiite Muslim leadership in monopolizing authority in Baghdad, excluding the 35-percent Sunni Muslims who ruled the country from 1932 to the U.S. invasion in 2003. That piece of unwise religious discrimination is bad enough in itself, but it is joined by serious pushing and shoving among the Shiites themselves.

The refusal to address the persecution of the Sunnis, the refusal to bring the Sunnis into the government fully is what resulted in the rise of the Islamic State.

Schoolyard-style chaos descended on Iraq’s parliament on Wednesday as
lawmakers scuffled and threw water bottles at one another amid a
political crisis that is destabilizing the country.In a day of bickering and brawls in Baghdad, more than 100 parliament
members signed a petition calling for the resignation of Prime Minister
Haider al-Abadi, President Fuad Masum and the speaker of parliament,
Salim al-Jabouri, lawmakers said. About the same number are staging a
sit-in in the parliament building.

Iraq's
parliamentary speaker Salim al-Jabouri may request the dissolution of
the assembly after ministers scuffled during a chaotic parliamentary
session on Wednesday over a plan to overhaul the government that aims to
tackle graft. The
possibility of holding new elections in Iraq was raised after state TV
reported that al-Jabouri was considering the future of the current
assembly. According to Iraqi
constitution, dissolving the parliament requires the approval of the
majority of the MPs at the request of one third of the assembly, or the
approval of the president at the request of the prime minister.

How serious could al-Jabouri be?

That depends.

He could be dead serious.

Or this could be a parent bluffing from the driver's seat, "If you kids don't straighten up, I'm turning this car around right now! I'm not joking!"

One would think if you were really serious about dissolving the Parliament, you'd have other things to do besides refute rumors that you might be resigning.

But who knows?

What is known is that the Iraqi Constitution states:

Article 61:
First: The Council of Representatives may dissolve itself with the
consent of the absolute majority of its members, upon the request of
one-third of its members or upon the request of the Prime Minister and
the consent of the President of the Republic. The Council may not be
dissolved during the period in which the Prime Minister is being
questioned.
Second: Upon the dissolution of the Council of Representatives, the
President of the Republic shall call for general elections in the
country within a period not to exceed sixty days from the date of its
dissolution. The Cabinet in this case is considered resigned and
continues to run everyday business.

We know what general elections are in Iraq, don't we?

I ask because few seem to grasp that dissolving the Parliament would mean another contest for the post of prime minister.

That's what general elections are.

So if the Parliament is dissolved (and the Constitution followed -- always a big "IF" in Iraq), Haider al-Abadi might or might not be chosen to be prime minister of Iraq.

It's very likely there would be a push to go with someone else.

Not only does Nouri al-Maliki still covet the post (Nouri was prime minister from 2006 through 2014) but a large number of Shi'ites see Haider al-Abadi as a failure.

It's only the governments of Iran and the United States that continue to firmly back him.

The fact that he could lose his post may be why Haider's talking state of emergency.

The
Iranians, who usually act as brokers between Shiite groups, have
generally been skeptical of Mr. Abadi, whom they regard as too close to
the United States. However, Iran has recently opposed unseating the
prime minister, perhaps fearing that prolonged negotiations over his
succession could drive Shiite parties further apart and divert
diplomatic and security resources away from the fight against the
Islamic State. Iran might also realize that lasting success against the
jihadist group requires addressing Iraqi Sunnis’ concerns rather than
encouraging sectarianism.

The
United States has also played an influential role in facilitating
agreements among Iraqis in recent years. The United States has had a
good working relationship with Mr. Abadi, as Secretary of State John
Kerry’s visit to Baghdad last week affirmed. But officials in Washington
are, like their Iranian counterparts, concerned that a political crisis
in Baghdad could delay the campaign to retake Mosul from the Islamic
State. The political crisis could also derail efforts by the Iraqis to
deal with their financial problems.

Even Zalmay can't pretend there's support among the Iraqi people for Haider to remain in place.

As
a psychotherapist working closely with our military and veterans, I am
deeply troubled by your article about a Marine’s death on a secret Iraqi
base. I am concerned not only for the family of this fallen Marine, but
also for all of us being misled by leadership disguising the realities
of war.

It
is tragic enough that another American son has fallen, but when
families and the nation are told that he and others are not counted as
being deployed in the combat zone because they are on temporary
assignment or there less than four months; when the public is told that
our Marines are on “fire complexes” rather than fire bases so that they
sound safer; when we were told combat operations were over while we are
still sending troops to fight and be killed in that same region, we are
fed a series of lies.

Yes, it sounds like the peace movement is reawakening.

And doing so after years of being in a medically induced coma. Leslie Cagan and other liars broke up various peace organizations following the November 2008 election.

They didn't want to challenge or pressure Barack.

They weren't peace leaders, they were just get-out-the-vote tools for the Democratic Party.

Now the peace movement is realizing that their 'leaders' were liars with few exceptions (Cindy Sheehan was not a liar and would be high on the list of exceptions -- but if you weren't speaking out like Cindy in the last years, you are on the liar list).

About Me

We do not open attachments. Stop e-mailing them. Threats and abusive e-mail are not covered by any privacy rule. This isn't to the reporters at a certain paper (keep 'em coming, they are funny). This is for the likes of failed comics who think they can threaten via e-mails and then whine, "E-mails are supposed to be private." E-mail threats will be turned over to the FBI and they will be noted here with the names and anything I feel like quoting.
This also applies to anyone writing to complain about a friend of mine. That's not why the public account exists.